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Friday, July 31, 2015

DICTATOR COUPLE NAJIB & ROSMAH: A NEW CLIMATE OF FEAR BEGINS

Millions of Malaysians are tuning in to follow the antics of Najib Tun Razak and his wife Rosmah daily and there are perhaps hordes of others who are beginning to link up with the unfolding drama in the country from around the world.

For now, Malaysia, the prime minister and Rosmah are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Najib and Rosmah have obviously been cornered and have no more space to wiggle and get out of the hands of grasping Malaysians who are trying to apprehend them for a number of major wrongdoings.

Beginning with their alleged involvement in the murder of Mongolian translator and part-time model, Alantuya Shaaribuu, Najib and Rosmah claim they have nothing to do with her death, although many Malaysians believe there is no smoke without fire.

Najib and Rosmah busily went about their duties as prime minister and first lady respectively though a list of allegations of wrongdoings were leveled at them from their extravagant and lavish spending to the neglect of their duties and responsibilities.

But all the while Malaysians were respectful and tolerant of the first couple, dismissing all the allegations of wrongdoings as bitter talk by the opposition for losing out in the last general election and being merely a bunch of sore losers.

The 1MDB debacle

PM Najib and Datin Rosmah Mansor

Things will have gone on for Najib and Rosmah, if not for the UK-based Sarawak Report beginning a crusade of unearthing the 1MDB debacle which threw the nation into chaos and confusion as it unraveled the mysterious disappearance of RM42 billion from the sovereign wealth fund.

This was when chaos and confusion began to erupt with Sarawak Report, the New York-based Wall Street Journal and local publishers The Edge Financial Daily providing watertight evidence, clear and irrefutable proof that US$700 was siphoned by Najib into his personal bank accounts.

Others were implicated as accomplices in what is now being described as a covert move by the prime minister, acting in his capacity as advisor to 1MDB, to fleece Malaysians of their hard earned wealth in another glaring example of the inequitable distribution of wealth in this country.

This was the tip of the iceberg and as the paper trail was followed, it involved and implicated Bank Negara Malaysia, the Attorney-General’s office and the finance ministry in what is seen as an elaborate cover-up being done now to hide their tracks.

More dirt and filth uncovered

When the mudslinging began, as accusations and attacks were hurled against Najib by the blatant hypocrite and liar, former Malaysian dictator and UMNO strongman, Mahathir Mohammad, who during his term of office misappropriated over RM 100 billion, the battle for Malaysia was thrown wide open.

In the ensuing struggle to cling on to power, Najib began to dig deep and forsook the tenets and obligations of democracy to lash at his critics and opponents and those who were taking on the challenge to oust him from office.

So far Najib has survived. But only just. In the process, he sacked his deputy and brought about a federal Cabinet reshuffle as envisaged to gain support and surround himself with those who will stand by him, those who will sink or swim with him.

This might seem like a gallant thrust and move by UMNO diehards in trying to ensure the party is at the helm of the pinnacle of power in this country, but it also reveals the fragile state of affairs of the country that is sinking into an abysmal low.

In this news portal, it had often been stated that Malaysia under the leadership of Najib was being viewed as a rogue nation and there is now the clear and present danger of this country of 30-million strong being doomed or becoming a failed state.

The evolving scenario

In trying to gauge where the nation is heading, there is a need to back track to the time when Tunku Abdul Rahman, the founding father of this nation, or Bapa Merdeka, in a brilliant and astute fight, won the right to independence for this country from the British colonialists.

So far it was so good. It was the right move and the right time for Malaysia to become an independent nation and the Tunku was a first class statesmen to helm the nation and is considered by historians, who do not revise history, as arguably the greatest ever prime minister.

Everything was ticking well under the Tunku who adhered strictly to fair play, meritocracy and justice. But there was a growing number of Malays scheming evil and it led to the May 13, 1969 race riots and the subsequent ouster of the Tunku as prime minister.

Perhaps it was a case of being too good to be true, the bliss that was savored by Malaysians under the Tunku. The rebel group of Malays who seized power also began an elaborate move to tinker with the principles of democracy.

It was this shift from ‘demokrasi tulen’ or pure democracy that witnessed the implementation of the New Economic Policy or NEP, under the leadership of the Razak regime, an affirmative action program for bumiputeras that ran for thirty years from 1970-2000 and failed miserably.

Democracy compromised

When the NEP took off, it spelt the decay of democracy and the program failed to bring any real progress for the Malays and other bumiputeras, but instead, what happened was that the NEP was responsible for establishing the governing elite in this country.

When Mahathir Mohammad engineered the economic booms during his tenure of office as prime minister, democracy began to be severely compromised as the wealth that was created was not equitably distributed among the people despite their hard work and toil.

Mahathir squandered the wealth for his family, cronies and sycophants under the guise and pretext of affirmative action and though the bumiputeras were exploited and made use of, it was really the elite in this country that was sitting pretty.

The failure of Malaysia as a democracy took place during the administration of the Mahathir regime as well as the widespread spread of corruption, nepotism, collusion and cronyism which took its toll by the oppression it wrecked on the lives of many innocent Malaysians.

In the process the judiciary, the police force, the education system started to reek of biasness and prejudice and this weighed down heavy not only on the minority races in the country but also the bulk of bumiputeras.

Up to the present

By this time Mahathir Mohammad and the elite he led in this country were enjoying the privileged status of being above and beyond the laws of the land, and despite being guilty of atrocities and wrongdoing’s, they were never convicted or punished in any way.

Instead those who took to task Mahathir and his cronies were unfairly punished in a conspiracy among those in power to hijack the nation and treat it as their personal fiefdom in which they held sway as the elite.

The saga was about the same during the tenure of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi whose weak leadership caused the country to rot further as there emerged signs of growing opposition by Malaysians against the Barisan Nasional’s exclusive governance since 1957.

In the current complexity of Najib and Rosmah’s situation, the opposition is faced with an unenviable task of trying to rid Malaysia of the corrupt, the inept and deadwood leaders and it is also taking its toll as the incarceration of Anwar Ibrahim suggests and reeks of a political conspiracy against him.

But for the first time in the history of this nation, the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians are perhaps jointly united now in wanting to rid Malaysia of evil and to restore democracy back in full and it is really a question of how long it takes to evict leaders that have failed Malaysians.

Now is perhaps a very critical juncture that the nation faces and Malaysians of all walks of life have to seriously decide and determine the fate and the future of this country and look beyond the accidents of birth such as race and religion to choose their leaders to lead them.

Only by opting to work with those who are untainted, those who are free from corruption, those who are not self-seeking, self-serving individuals can the nation be restored in full or face the dire and real, stark possibility of becoming a failed state. - Malaysia Chronicle